Equity indices close in the green, Eicher Motors up 4.2 pc

Equity benchmark indices continued their upward momentum on Friday but the gains in IT and realty sectors were capped by PSU banks.

At the closing bell, the BSE SandP Sensex was up by 178 points or 0.5 per cent at 36,021 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 56 points or 0.53 per cent at 10,607.

Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty IT and realty gaining by 1 per cent each but PSU bank down by 0.9 per cent.

Among stocks, Eicher Motors was up by 4.18 per cent at Rs 19,121 per share while Hero MotoCorp accelerated by 2.6 per cent, Bajaj Auto by 1.9 per cent and Tata Motors by 1.8 per cent.

Adani Ports closed 4.1 per cent higher at Rs 361 per share.

Tata Consultancy Services gained by 1.7 per cent while Bharti Airtel and Bharti Infratel were up by 4 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively.

Reliance Industries edged higher by 1.53 per cent to Rs 1,785.50 per share after Intel Corp said it will invest Rs 1,894 crore in Jio Platforms in exchange for a 0.39 per cent stake, the latest big-ticket investment in its digital unit.

But metal stocks fell with JSW Steel and Tata Steel down by 1.7 per cent each and Hindalco by 1 per cent.

IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv too traded with a negative bias.

Meanwhile, Asian shares rallied to a four-month high on robust US payrolls data and a brisk pickup in Chinese service sector activity.

Shanghai Composite closed 2.01 per cent higher.

Japan's Nikkei rose by 0.72 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up by 0.99 per cent.